The filmmaker will be serving as Grand Marshal for Sunday's five-borough footrace, and his flair for capturing the city's scenes will be highlighted this week as runners ready for the gun to go off.

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"When we picked up the phone and finally went out to lunch with him, he was blown away that we were even asking," race director Peter Ciaccia said Monday during lunch at Tavern on the Green. "He was like, 'You're kidding me. You want me to do this?' We were equally blown away that he accepted."

Lee produced, directed and starred in the opening segment that will appear on the Sunday morning broadcast. Michael Capiraso, the president and CEO of the New York Road Runners, viewed the video recently and likened it to a postcard of NYC with Lee popping up along the route.

"It's amazing, it seems like he's eating in almost every other scene," Capiraso said. "He hits all these places where there's great food. He worked just about every aspect you can want of the five boroughs and the real kind of fabric of the city in the piece. It's all very fantastic."

Lee, the first New Yorker to serve as Grand Marshal in the race's 45-year history, will then yield the stage to the field of more than 50,000 runners from across the globe. All four defending champions are returning to the 26.2-mile course.

There will be plenty of familiar faces running for charity, as well. Former tennis pro James Blake will be running the city's streets after being slammed to the ground outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel by an NYPD officer in September. Alicia Keys will participate for the Keep A Child Alive charity.

As for Lee, he will leave his running shoes at home for the most part.